EPA-OMS-24-01.pdf

Fiscal Year 2024 National Environmental Information Exchange Network Grant Program Solicitation Notice

Overview Information

Agency Name and Office:

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Mission Support – Environmental Information

Funding Opportunity Title:

FY 2024 National Environmental Information Exchange Network Grant Program

Announcement Type:

Initial Request for Applications

Funding Opportunity Number:

EPA-OMS-24-01

CFDA Number:

66.608

Key Information Dates:

Wednesday, May 22, 2024 – Deadline for submitting applications to EPA.

Tuesday, October 1, 2024 – Period of performance (project) start date for successful applicants.

Table of Contents

I. Funding Opportunity Description I-A. Background I-B. EN Assistance Activities and Funding Areas I-C. Environmental Results Supported by Assistance Activities I-D. Additional Provisions for Applicants Incorporated into the Solicitation

II. Award Information II-A. General Information II-B. Award Types

III. Eligibility Information III-A. Eligible Applicants III-B. Threshold Eligibility Criteria for Applications III-C. Additional Threshold Eligibility Criteria III-D. Eligibility Criteria for EN Partnership Applications III-E. Cost Sharing or Matching III.F. Performance Partnership Grants (PPG)

IV. Application and Submission Information IV-A. Submission Date and Time IV-B. EN Partnership (Coalition) Application Submissions

V. Application Review Information V-A. Evaluation Criteria V-B. Review and Selection Process V-C. Anticipated Award Dates

VI. Award Administration Information VI-A. Award Notification VI-B. Administration and National Policy Requirements VI-C. Reporting

VII. Agency Contact

Appendices Appendix A: EN Project Opportunities Under Funding Area 1 .......................................... A1 Appendix B: EN Project Opportunities Under Funding Area 2 .......................................... B1 Appendix C: EN Project Opportunities Under Funding Area 3 .......................................... C1 Appendix D: Reusability, EEDS, and Budget Guidance and Resources ......................... D1

Identifying Items for Reuse ................................................................................................................... D1 Alignment with the E-Enterprise Digital Strategy (EEDS) ................................................................ D2 How to Correctly Calculate and Capture a Project Budget Across Application Attachments ................ D4 Indirect Cost Rate Example ................................................................................................................ D8 Additional Budget Resources ................................................................................................................ D8

Appendix E: Detailed Instructions for Preparing and Submitting Application ............... E1 Attachment 1: Cover Letter ................................................................................................................. E2 Attachment 2: The Project Narrative ................................................................................................... E2 Attachment 3: The Budget Narrative Attachment Form ..................................................................... E10 Attachment 4: Application for Federal Assistance (SF-424) ............................................................... E10 Attachment 5: Budget Information for Non-Construction Programs (SF-424A) .................................. E10 Attachment 6: Key Contacts Form ...................................................................................................... E10 Attachment 7: Pre-Award Compliance Review..................................................................................... E10 Attachment A: Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement ................................................................... E11 Attachment B: Information for Inter-Tribal Consortium ....................................................................... E11 Attachment C: Formal Project Partners ............................................................................................... E11 Attachment D: Formal Project Mentors ............................................................................................... E12 Attachment E: List of Prior Exchange Network Assistance Agreements ............................................. E12 Attachment F: Documentation Certifying Applicant Status as an Instrumentality of the State or Tribe . E12 Detailed Instructions for Submitting Applications ................................................................................. E12

Appendix F: Optional Pre-Submission Checklist .................................................................... F1 Appendix G: Glossary of Terms/Phrases .................................................................................... G1

Note: A User’s Guide to the Appendices

- Appendices A – C: In the context of the Exchange Network Grant Program, the phrase ‘EN project opportunities’ refers to specific project write-ups that provide potential applicants with the information needed to design a proposal for a particular data exchange, data service, or project type. These write-ups contain essential descriptions and background information, suggested project activities and estimated costs, and helpful links and resources. Applicants can apply under one or multiple EN project opportunities or propose projects that do not have a specific EN project opportunity write-up (see I-B. EN Assistance Activities and Funding Areas).

- Appendix D-G: These appendices provide additional guidance on reusability, technical approaches, budgeting, attachments, agency application submission policy, an optional checklist tool, and a glossary of key terms used within this solicitation. Applicants should review and visit the resources listed in these appendices to ensure their submissions are accurate and complete.

I. Funding Opportunity Description The EPA Exchange Network Grant Program is soliciting project applications to support the Environmental Information Exchange Network (EN) to:

Facilitate sharing of environmental data, especially through shared and reusable services.

Reduce burden and avoid costs for co-regulators and the regulated community.

Streamline data collection and exchanges to improve its timeliness for decision making.

Increase the quality and access to environmental data through discovery, publishing, outbound and analytical services so it is more useful to environmental managers.

Increase data and IT management capabilities needed to fully participate in the EN.

Section I-B summarizes the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 EN Funding Areas and provides links to activities (as detailed in Appendices A, B, and C) which are eligible for funding.

FY 2024 is the twenty-second year EPA will award competitive funding to eligible recipients for projects through the Exchange Network Grant Program. Between FY 2002 and FY 2023, EPA provided approximately $271 million for state, tribal, and territorial awards and associated program support through the grant program. As of February 1, 2024, all 50 states and the District of Columbia, 90 tribes, and 5 territories have received EN assistance agreements. For descriptions of previously awarded EN assistance agreements, please see:

https://www.epa.gov/exchangenetwork/previous-exchange-network-grant-projects.

I-A. Background The Exchange Network (EN) was launched in 2002 as an inter-governmental, collaborative partnership of EPA, states, territories, and tribes to foster better environmental management and decision-making through increased access to timely, high quality environmental information. This was achieved through a standards-based approach to facilitate environmental data sharing among EPA, states, tribes, and territories. The framework adopted allows organizations to exchange data over the Internet regardless of the specific information technology used. For more information on the EN, see https://www.epa.gov/exchangenetwork and http://www.exchangenetwork.net/.

Over the last two decades, the EN has adapted approaches to reflect evolving technologies and programmatic needs. See the E-Enterprise Digital Strategy (EEDS) guidance in Appendix D for more information.

I-B. EN Assistance Activities and Funding Areas This EN Grant Program Solicitation Notice requests states, tribes, inter-tribal consortia, and territories submit applications with goal(s) supporting one or more of the three (3) FY24 EN funding areas listed below. Applicants should note that all three EN funding areas are of equal priority and that there is no preference given for applications which support more than one.

Please note that the phrase ‘EN project opportunities’ in the context of the EN Grant Program refers to the specific EPA data flow/project write-ups in Appendices A-C that fall under one of the three EN Funding Areas below. These project opportunity write-ups (which are listed and hyperlinked below) include a project description, relevant program status and plans, suggested project activities and estimated costs, and additional links and resources. Applicants are encouraged to use the suggested potential activities as project goals or objectives, as applicable.

https://www.epa.gov/exchangenetwork/previous-exchange-network-grant-projects https://www.epa.gov/exchangenetwork http://www.exchangenetwork.net/

The Funding Areas described below are open to either individual applicants, EN partnership applicants, or both. An individual applicant is a single eligible organization that submits a project proposal that includes work that will be managed and completed by that organization. An EN partnership entails the submission of a coalition proposal by an eligible lead organization who will share in the work, coordination, and benefit of the proposed project with one or more partnering organizations. The lead applicant organization may distribute a portion of awarded funds to their partner(s) through subaward(s); see Section IV-B for requirements and further information.

The FY24 EN Funding Areas and associated EN project opportunities include:

Funding Area 1: Increased Data Access and Innovative Business Processes.

- EN project opportunities under EN Funding Area 1 are detailed in Appendix A and include:

• EN Services

• Shared CROMERR Services (SCS) ......................................................................................... A2

• Substance Registry Services (SRS) ........................................................................................... A4

• Innovative Business Processes

• Advanced Water Quality Monitoring Using Sensor Technologies .................................... A6

• Open Data, Data Modern., & Digital Transform. Projects incl. Geospatial Data ......... A8

- EN project opportunities under EN Funding Area 1 are open to both individual applicants (up to $300,000) and eligible EN partnership applicants (up to $500,000).

Beginning in FY24, Virtual Exchange Services (VES) is no longer an EN project opportunity within Appendix A. VES provides foundational EN capabilities for exchanging data, comparable to physical nodes. VES continues to be a supported capability that can be leveraged to deliver on many of the data exchange opportunities outlined in Appendices A-C. EPA encourages applicants to consider the options under the ‘Open Data Modernization and Digital Transformation Projects including Geospatial Data’ project opportunity to support foundational activities (e.g., ICIS Digital Services projects, eBeaches projects, Drinking Water State Revolving Fund & Clean Water State Revolving Fund projects). Projects under EN project opportunities appropriately utilizing VES capabilities in their implementation can be considered for funding in FY24.

Funding Area 2: Eliminate paper submittals and expand e-reporting.

- EN project opportunities under EN Funding Area 2 are detailed in Appendix B and include:

• Air

• Emission Inventory System (EIS) ........................................................................................... B2

• Combined Air Emissions Reporting (CAER) ....................................................................... B3

• Enforcement and Compliance

• Integrated Compliance Information System (ICIS) Digital Services ................................. B5

• Electronic Reporting of Nat. Pollutant Discharge Elimin. System (NPDES) Data. ...... B7

• Waste

• Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Information System (RCRA Info) .... ......... B9

• Water

• eBeaches.......................................................................................................................... B11

• Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) ..................................................... B12

• Water Quality Exchange (WQX) .................................................................................. B14

• Assessment TMDL Tracking And ImplementatioN System (ATTAINS) ................... B16

• Drinking Water State Revolving Fund & Clean Water State Revolving Fund ............. B18

• Underground Injection Control (UIC) Data Availability Projects ................................ B19

• Other Data Exchanges

• Facility Registry Service (FRS) ..................................................................................... B20

- EN project opportunities under EN Funding Area 2 are open to both individual applicants

(up to $300,000) and eligible EN partnership applicants (up to $500,000).

Funding Area 3: Augment the information management capacity of EN partners.

- EN project opportunities under EN Funding Area 3 are detailed in Appendix C and include:

• Individual Capacity Building ............................................................................................ C2 Individual applicant opportunity (up to $300,000)

• Individual Capacity Building with Mentorship ................................................................ C3 Individual applicant opportunity with mentorship support and optional mentor funding (up to $315,000)

• Collaborative Capacity Building ...................................................................................... C5

EN Partnership opportunity (up to $500,000)

- Note: The “EN project opportunities” within Appendix C are only available to U.S. Territories, federally recognized Indian tribes and Alaska Native Villages, and inter-tribal consortia of federally recognized tribes (e.g., the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission).

• State applicants or applicants who are instrumentalities of the state or a tribe (see section III-A Eligible Applicants) are not eligible for projects under Funding Area 3.

Applicants should specifically state which EN funding area(s) and EN project opportunities they are applying under within the ‘Project Description’ section of their project narrative. For example, an applicant who proposes a project incorporating both the EN project opportunities ‘Water Quality Exchange (WQX)’ and ‘Individual Capacity Building’ should explicitly name both of these EN project opportunities and state that these opportunities support EN Funding Area 2 (WQX) and EN Funding Area 3 (Individual Capacity Building).

Applicants may also propose projects other than the potential options listed in Appendices A, B, and C, provided they conform to EN technologies, services, and specifications. If an applicant is proposing a project which does not correspond to a specific EN project opportunity, this should be clearly stated in the project narrative within the ‘Project Description’ section. The applicant should also note which EN Funding Area(s) would be supported by the proposed project. For example, a Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) data exchange project (which doesn’t relate to a specific EN project opportunity described in this RFA) supports the elimination of industry paper reporting and expansion of e-reporting. Therefore, this proposed project would fall under Funding Area 2: Eliminate paper submittals and expand e-reporting.

EPA will determine the eligibility of each applicant (see Section III-A). EPA will then evaluate applications from eligible applicants based on the evaluation criteria in Section V-A. Applicants are responsible for reading and complying with the instructions and criteria described in this solicitation.

Before naming any entity as an “EN partner” or otherwise identifying any entity that will receive EPA funding through subaward (aka “subgrants”), procurement contracts, or any other financial transaction, EPA strongly recommends that applicants carefully review the ‘Contracts and

Subawards’ clause in the EPA Solicitation Clauses, as well as other information in this Notice regarding financial relationships. See Section II-B for further information on subawards and contracts.

I-C. Environmental Results Supported by Assistance Activities This program is authorized by the Consolidated Appropriation Act, 2024, H.R. 4366

The activities to be funded under this announcement support multiple goals and objectives under EPA’s FY 2022-2026 Strategic Plan. Applicants are encouraged to read the full text here.

Applicants must identify in the ‘project description’ section of their project narrative which goal(s) and objective(s) from the EPA Strategic Plan are supported by their proposed project. Proposed projects may support more than one strategic goal and objective. Include both the number and title of each supported goal and objective (e.g., ‘Goal 1: Tackle the Climate Crisis, Objective 1.2 Accelerate Resilience and Adaption to Climate Change Impacts’), and briefly describe for each how they will support the proposed project.

Applicants should list and describe all that apply from the following list:

Goal 1: Tackle the Climate Crisis o Objective 1.1 - Reduce Emissions that Cause Climate Change o Objective 1.2 - Accelerate Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Change Impacts o Objective 1.3 - Advance International and Subnational Climate Efforts

Goal 2: Take Decisive Action to Advance Environmental Justice and Civil Rights o Objective 2.1 - Promote Environmental Justice and Civil Rights at the Federal, Tribal, State and Local Levels Goal 3: Enforce Environmental Laws and Ensure Compliance o Objective 3.2 - Detect Violations and Promote Compliance Goal 4: Ensure Clean and Healthy Air for All Communities o Objective 4.1 - Improve Air Quality and Reduce Localized Pollution and Health Impacts o Objective 4.2 - Reduce Exposure to Radiation and Improve Indoor Air Goal 5: Ensure Clean and Safe Water for All Communities o Objective 5.1 - Ensure Safe Drinking Water and Reliable Water Infrastructure o Objective 5.2 - Protect and Restore Waterbodies and Watersheds

Goal 6: Safeguard and Revitalize Communities o Objective 6.1 - Clean Up and Restore Land for Productive Uses and Healthy

Communities o Objective 6.2 - Reduce Waste and Prevent Environmental Contamination o Objective 6.3 - Prepare for and Respond to Environmental Emergencies

Goal 7: Ensure Safety of Chemicals for People and the Environment o Objective 7.1 - Ensure Chemical and Pesticide Safety o Objective 7.2 - Promote Pollution Prevention

Applicants should also identify which EPA strategic goal and objective from the list above is most supported by each project goal as identified in the ‘Project Goals, Outputs, and Outcomes’ section of the project narrative. Applicants should only list one strategic goal and objective per project goal; if there are multiple options, applicants should choose the best fit. Please note that the same strategic goal and objective may be listed for multiple project goals.

https://www.epa.gov/grants/epa-solicitation-clauses https://www.epa.gov/planandbudget/strategicplan

Additionally, the project narrative should include specific statements describing the environmental results of the proposed project. EPA requires that applicants adequately describe the environmental outputs and outcomes to be achieved under their assistance agreements (see EPA Order 5700.7A1) to demonstrate how funded projects will contribute to the EPA strategic goals and objectives above. An example of how applicants might capture supported strategic goals, objectives, and environmental results is available in the optional project narrative template.

I-D. Additional Provisions For Applicants Incorporated Into The Solicitation Additional provisions that apply to sections III, IV, V, and VI of this solicitation and/or awards made under this solicitation, can be found at EPA Solicitation Clauses. These provisions are important for applying to this solicitation and applicants must review them when preparing applications for this solicitation. If you are unable to access these provisions electronically at the website above, please contact the EPA point of contact listed in this solicitation (see Section VII) to obtain the provisions.

II. Award Information

II-A. General Information In FY24, EPA expects to award approximately $10,500,000 in 25-35 assistance agreements of up to $500,000 each, depending on Agency funding levels, the quality of applications received, agency priorities, and other applicable considerations.

EPA expects most awards to be in the $200,000 to $300,000 range. Applicants applying under an individual opportunity may request up to $300,000 in funding. Applicants applying under a partnership opportunity may request funds up to $500,000 if the partnership eligibility criteria outlined in Section III-D is met. Applicants specifically applying under the Individual Capacity Building with Mentorship opportunity as described in Section I-B may request up to $315,000 if all requirements are met. Please see Section I-B for additional details about funding ranges.

EPA remains committed to awarding tribal assistance agreements equal to at least 20 percent of the appropriated funds. The actual award amounts and number of tribal assistance agreements awarded under this set-aside may differ from the estimated amounts for many reasons including the number of meritorious applications received, agency priorities, and funding availability. In addition, EPA reserves the right to increase or decrease (including decreasing to zero) the total number and amount of awards under this set-aside or change the ratio of assistance agreements awarded.

The expected period of performance for each assistance agreement is three years.

Additional Awards: EPA reserves the right to make additional awards under this solicitation, consistent with Agency policy and guidance, if additional funding becomes available after the original selections are made. Any additional selections for awards will be made no later than 6 months after the original selection decisions.

Partial Funding: In appropriate circumstances, EPA reserves the right to partially fund applications by funding discrete portions or phases of proposed projects. If EPA decides to partially fund an application, it will do so in a manner that does not prejudice any applicants or affect the basis upon which the application, or portion thereof, was evaluated and selected for award, and therefore maintains the integrity of the competition and selection process.

https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-03/documents/epa_order_5700_7a1.pdf https://www.epa.gov/exchangenetwork/exchange-network-grant-program#Resources

Performance Partnership Grants (PPGs) and Consolidated Grants (CGs):

In 1996, Congress authorized EPA to award Performance Partnership Grants (PPGs). As a result, states, certain interstate agencies, and tribes can choose to combine two or more environmental program grants into a single PPG. An applicant whose organization has an existing Performance Partnership Grant (PPG) with EPA may request that any new grant recommended for funding be incorporated into the PPG. Applicants interested in combining grants into a PPG as described above should clearly state this within their cover letter and project narrative and include the PPG number.

An applicant may also request to create a new PPG that includes the project proposed under this solicitation. Absent a request from the recipient for inclusion in or creation of a PPG, EPA will award the grant in a stand-alone vehicle. See Section III-F for additional information on PPGs.

Territories interested in combining grants may consolidate their various grants through a single Consolidated Grant (CG).

In-Kind Services:

EPA will consider grant recipient requests to use all or a portion of awarded grant funds to provide in-kind services to the recipient through an EPA contract vehicle. Interested applicants should request and justify project efficiencies they expect from this approach. EPA reserves the right to decide whether in-kind services will be provided. The recipient may not direct the work provided through in-kind services. These services are managed by EPA.

Indirect Costs:

Indirect costs (IDCs) may be budgeted and charged by award recipients in accordance with 2 CFR Part 200. Indirect costs help ensure that grant recipients are compensated for costs incurred for allowable, allocable, and reasonable facilities and administrative costs that benefit EPA assistance agreements. These costs are for functions that are necessary to the general operations of the organization, such as space costs, utilities, accounting services, human resource services, etc. as well as other activities recipients carry out that may or may not be federally funded.

To charge indirect costs, an indirect cost rate agreement must be used according to 2 CFR 200.414 and must be valid until at least 9/30/2024.

Subawards and Contracts: EPA will consider applications where all or a portion of awarded assistance agreement funds will be distributed as a subaward or procurement contract. EPA strongly recommends that applicants interested in these funding mechanisms carefully review EPA’s Best Practice Guide for Procuring Services, Supplies, and Equipment Under EPA Assistance Agreements.

Applicants that intend to distribute all anticipated EPA funding through subaward(s) and/or procurement contracts must explain how they will manage these transactions in compliance with applicable Federal requirements without EPA funding applied to personnel. EPA also reminds applicants that they remain accountable to EPA for proper expenditures of EPA funding, even in cases where they pass-through all funding to third parties. Applicants should not identify contractors, subrecipients or program participants unless they demonstrate that applicable requirements have been met.

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/appendix-Appendix%20IV%20to%20Part%20200 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/appendix-Appendix%20IV%20to%20Part%20200 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-E/subject-group-ECFRd93f2a98b1f6455/section-200.414 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-E/subject-group-ECFRd93f2a98b1f6455/section-200.414 https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2021-03/documents/best-practice-guide-for-procuring-services-supplies-equipment.pdf?VersionId=gZcqfN8GrYeHErieycJVXxsZxab_lh4w https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2021-03/documents/best-practice-guide-for-procuring-services-supplies-equipment.pdf?VersionId=gZcqfN8GrYeHErieycJVXxsZxab_lh4w

Subawards: Under 2 CFR 200.1, a subaward is an award provided by a pass-through entity to a subrecipient for the subrecipient to carry out part of a Federal award received by the pass-through entity. It does not include payments to a contractor or payments to an individual that is a beneficiary of a federal program. A subaward may be provided through any form of legal agreement, including an agreement that the pass-through entity considers a contract.

Appendix A of EPA’s Subaward Policy provides detailed guidance on distinguishing between subawards and procurement contracts.

o Like grant recipients, subrecipients measure performance against program objectives, comply with award requirements, use funds to carry out program activities, and make programmatic decisions.

o Funds that are distributed to partnering organizations through eligible EN partnership awards to carry out assistance agreement activities for, and in coordination with, the lead applicant should be distributed as a subaward.

o For-profit firms and individual consultants are not eligible for subawards without prior EPA approval, which is rarely provided. For-profit firms and individual consultants are procurement contractors subject to state or Federal competitive procurement requirements.

o Subawards should be captured under the budget category ‘other’; see Appendix D for further information on including subaward(s) in a proposed project budget.

Contracts: A contractor operates in a competitive environment, with contractors providing goods and services to the assistance agreement recipient that are ancillary to program operations. Contractors are not subject to compliance requirements of the assistance agreement and must be selected in compliance with competition requirements specified in 2 CFR Part 200 as interpreted in EPA’s Best Practice Guide for Procuring Services, Supplies, and Equipment Under EPA Assistance Agreements.

o As provided in 2 CFR 200.317, state agency applicants follow their own laws and policies with regard to competition requirements for procurement contracts, but other applicants are subject to the Procurement Standards in 2 CFR Part 200.

o Non-competitive procurement is not allowable without EPA approval, which is provided only in select cases. Applicants must provide a detailed justification when using this procurement method. See 2 CFR 200.320(c) for more information.

Note: An existing relationship or a history of prior work completed by a contractor or vendor does not justify the use of non-competitive procurement. Similarly, proximity of a contracting firm to an applicant’s organization is not sufficient reasoning. One example of a valid non-competitive procurement rationale is that software required for the proposed project is proprietary and developed by the contractor; therefore, the item is available only from a single source.

o Contractor/vendor costs should be captured under the budget category ‘contractual’ and calculated by multiplying the estimated projected hours by the estimated contractor rate. See Appendix D for further contract budget guidance.

Note: Individual consultants are subject to an hourly wage cap of $91.95.

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-A/subject-group-ECFR2a6a0087862fd2c/section-200.1 https://www.epa.gov/grants/grants-policy-issuance-gpi-16-01-epa-subaward-policy-epa-assistance-agreement-recipients bookmark://AppGGLOSSContract/ https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200?toc=1 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200?toc=1 https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2021-03/documents/best-practice-guide-for-procuring-services-supplies-equipment.pdf?VersionId=gZcqfN8GrYeHErieycJVXxsZxab_lh4w https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2021-03/documents/best-practice-guide-for-procuring-services-supplies-equipment.pdf?VersionId=gZcqfN8GrYeHErieycJVXxsZxab_lh4w https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-D/subject-group-ECFR45ddd4419ad436d/section-200.317 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200?toc=1 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-D/subject-group-ECFR45ddd4419ad436d/section-200.320

II-B. Award Types EPA may award assistance agreements under this announcement as grants or cooperative agreements.

Applicants should identify their preferred assistance agreement type (grant or cooperative agreement) in both their cover letter and project narrative. EPA will consider an applicant’s preferences when the

Agency decides what type of assistance to award.

Grant: Grants represent direct funding to a recipient to support an identified project with defined environmental results. If the recipient does not identify a preference, EPA’s default award will be a grant.

Cooperative Agreement: A cooperative agreement is an assistance agreement that is used when there is substantial federal involvement with the recipient during the performance of an activity or project. EPA awards cooperative agreements for those projects in which it expects to have substantial interaction with the recipient throughout the recipient’s performance of the project. EPA will negotiate the precise terms and conditions of “substantial involvement” as part of the award process. Federal involvement may include close monitoring of the recipient’s performance; collaboration during the performance of the scope of work; in accordance with 2 CFR 200.317 and 2 CFR 200.318, as appropriate, review of proposed procurements, reviewing qualifications of key personnel, and/or review and comment on the content of printed or electronic publications prepared. EPA does not have the authority to select employees or contractors employed by the recipient. The final decision on the content of reports rests with the recipient.

III. Eligibility Information Note: Additional provisions that apply to this section can be found at EPA Solicitation Clauses.

All applications will be reviewed for eligibility and must meet the eligibility requirements described in Sections III-A and III-B to be considered eligible. Applicants deemed ineligible for funding consideration as a result of the threshold eligibility review will be notified within 15 calendar days of the ineligibility determination.

III-A. Eligible Applicants Consistent with the Assistance Listing for 66.608, eligible applicants for the Exchange Network Grant Program include states, U.S. Territories (i.e., American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the District of Columbia, Guam, Palau, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands), federally recognized Indian tribes and Alaska Native Villages and inter-tribal consortia of federally recognized tribes (e.g., the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission).

Other entities, such as regional air pollution control districts and some public universities may apply for assistance if they are agencies or instrumentalities of a state or tribe under applicable laws. Entities asserting they are agencies or instrumentalities of a state must provide a letter from the appropriate state Attorney General (AG) certifying the applicant is an agency or instrumentality of the state.

Entities asserting they are instrumentalities of a tribe must provide a certification and supporting documentation from the tribal council or other appropriate tribal government official certifying they are an instrumentality of the tribe. EPA will not accept or review an application which does not include the required documentation.

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-D/subject-group-ECFR45ddd4419ad436d/section-200.317 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-D/subject-group-ECFR45ddd4419ad436d/section-200.318

The EPA recognizes that environmental programs and associated reporting obligations are sometimes delegated to local governments. Local governments are eligible to apply for EN assistance agreements if they can demonstrate that they are an instrumentality of the state by providing the documentation described in the preceding paragraph. However, most local governments implementing EPA programs are not agencies or instrumentalities of the state and therefore not eligible to apply. EPA encourages such entities to partner with an eligible lead applicant (e.g., a state applicant) to allow for their data to be reported and shared through the EN (see Section III-D for more information on EN partnership applications). Interstate commissions and other interstate entities, likewise, are not eligible to apply and are encouraged to partner with a state applicant.

EPA will only evaluate applications from eligible entities. Applicants should direct eligibility questions to ENGrantProgram@epa.gov. Interested parties not meeting the eligibility criteria should consider partnering with eligible applicants (see examples below).

III-B. Threshold Eligibility Criteria for Applications Applications from eligible applicants (see Section III-A) are only eligible to be evaluated for Exchange Network funding if they meet the requirements listed below.

a. An application must include goal(s) leading to completion of activities listed in Appendix A, B, or C, or others consistent with the EN funding areas. Applicants must also clearly state the anticipated outputs and outcomes which will result from the completion of their goals and objectives. Examples include but are not limited to: any data flow(s) brought into production, any API service(s) brought into production, and the creation of any new API documentation, data management plan(s), data standards or schema, open data portals, web applications, etc.

b. An application must substantially comply with the application submission instructions and requirements set forth in Section IV of this announcement or else they will be rejected. However, where a page limit is expressed in Section IV with respect to the application, or parts thereof, pages in excess of the page limitation will not be reviewed. Applicants are advised that readability is of paramount importance and should take precedence in application format, including selecting a legible font type and size for use in the application.

c. Applicants may submit more than one application; however, applicants are not eligible to receive more than one award under this Solicitation. This restriction applies both to single applicants and, in the case of a EN partnership (coalition) application, to applicants applying either as the lead applicant or as an eligible formal partner. See Sections III-D and IV-B.

d. Initial applications must be submitted through Grants.gov as stated in Section IV and

Appendix E of this announcement (except in the limited circumstances where another mode of submission is specifically allowed for as explained in Section IV) on or before the application submission deadline noted in Section IV of this solicitation.

Examples of Eligible Applicants:

State Department of Environmental Quality Territorial Environment Division Tribal Council on behalf of two or more tribal environmental and/or health agencies Tribal Water Quality Administration State university formally designated as an instrumentality of the state.

mailto:ENGrantProgram@epa.gov https://www.grants.gov/

Applicants are responsible for following the submission instructions in Section IV and Appendix E: Detailed Instructions for Submitting Applications through Grants.gov of this solicitation to ensure their application is timely submitted. Please note that applicants experiencing technical issues with submitting through Grants.gov should follow the instructions provided in Section IV, which include both the requirement to contact Grants.gov and email a full application to EPA prior to the deadline.

e. Applications submitted after the submission deadline will be considered late and deemed ineligible without further consideration unless the applicant can clearly demonstrate it was late due to EPA mishandling or because of technical problems associated with Grants.gov or SAM.gov.

An applicant’s failure to submit their application on time through Grants.gov because they did not allow enough time to properly register in SAM.gov or Grants.gov will not be considered an acceptable reason to consider a submission received outside of Grants.gov.

f. An application must not have:

Budgets greater than $300,000 for single applicant applications (except eligible applicants under the Individual Capacity Building with Mentorship opportunity as described in Section I.B., which can request up to $315,000.)

Budgets greater than $500,000 for eligible EN partnership applications.

g. Applicants must not have more than four active Exchange Network assistance agreements with the Agency as of as of December 31, 2023. EPA considers an assistance agreement active if the Agency has not yet approved the final technical report. EPA will consider an agreement inactive if the Regional Project Officer (RENC) approves the applicant’s final technical report on or before this date.

Note: Applicants that are applying under an EN partnership but are not the lead recipient will not be considered as having an active assistance agreement. Also, agencies within a state are treated as separate applicants under this criterion (e.g., Alabama Department of Environmental Quality and Alabama Department of Public Health).

h. Applications must not request funds for activities or deliverables for which the applicant has previously received funds. If a proposed goal is similar to one previously funded, the application must describe how previously funded activities differ from those currently proposed or how the current application will complement past or ongoing work.

III-C. Additional Threshold Eligibility Criteria Applicants must not use EN funding for the following functions:

Construction costs;

Operations and maintenance including previously developed or implemented EN projects;

Workshops and Conferences not initiated, advertised, and conducted for the benefit of the recipient and other state, tribal, territorial, or local representatives or public participants or are conducted primarily for EPA’s benefit;

Pre-Award Costs not previously requested to cover pre-award costs incurred 90 days or less before the award date;

http://www.grants.gov/ https://www.sam.gov/SAM/

Management Fees more than the direct costs and indirect costs at the rate approved by the applicant’s cognizant audit agency or at the rate provided for by the terms of the agreement negotiated with EPA. See Section IV.C. of EPA Solicitation Clauses for more information;

Development and deployment of physical nodes implementing the Exchange Network protocol and specification;

Operations and maintenance of flows, including minor schema updates for existing flows;

Statutory Prohibition on Certain Telecommunications & Video Surveillance Equipment Services. Unless an exception or waiver applies, Section 889 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019, Public Law 115-232 (section 889), prohibits the use of Federal funds by recipients and subrecipients to procure (enter into, extend, or renew contracts) or obtain equipment, systems, or services that use “covered telecommunications equipment or services” as a substantial or essential component of any system, or as critical technology as part of any system. Section 889 also prohibits the use of Federal funds by recipients and subrecipients to enter into a contract with an entity that “uses any equipment, system, or service that uses covered telecommunications equipment or services” as a substantial or essential component of any system, or as critical technology as part of any system.

The Office of Management and Budget’s implementing regulations at 2 CFR 200.216 provide additional information on the prohibitions in section 889. These regulations state, among other things, that “[A]s described in Public Law 115-232, section 889 covered telecommunications equipment is telecommunications equipment produced by Huawei Technologies Company or ZTE Corporation (or any subsidiary or affiliate of such entities).”

Other prohibitions may also apply. Certain prohibited equipment, systems, or services, including equipment, systems, or services produced or provided by entities identified in section 889, are recorded in the System for Award Management exclusion list.

If an application includes any ineligible tasks or activities (e.g., does not fall within the EN Funding Areas, has been previously funded, falls under the above funding restrictions), that portion of the application will be ineligible for funding and may, depending on the extent to which it affects the application, render the entire application ineligible for funding.

III-D. Eligibility Criteria for EN Partnership Applications EPA will consider the higher funding limit ($500,000) for projects including one or more qualifying Exchange Network partners, as defined below, to form an EN partnership (coalition) application.

Lead applicants may provide subawards (see Section II-A) to eligible subrecipients (see Section IV-B).

The lead applicant must meet the eligibility requirements under the EN Grant Program (see Section III-A). The lead applicant, or prime recipient, of a partnership application must also demonstrate how the proposed project supports the identified EN priorities and explain how the partnership components justify additional funding. Partnership applications that do not demonstrate this will be deemed ineligible. EPA will limit funding for intrastate projects to $300,000, the maximum funding for a single applicant for EN awards in FY24. Intrastate projects that request more than $300,000 may be deemed ineligible.

https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=16f6f545d6e4ce7185818386009fb257&mc=true&node=se2.1.200_1216&rgn=div8 https://sam.gov/SAM/

Eligible partners are separate units of government (e.g., a state partnering with another state, a state partnering with a non-federally recognized tribe, a federally recognized tribe partnering with a state university, or a territory partnering with a non-profit). Examples of ineligible partnerships include an eligible lead applicant partnering with a local government as defined by 2 CFR 200.1 within the same state jurisdiction (e.g., a state and a city within the state’s boundaries), an eligible lead applicant partnering with a university (public or private) within the state’s boundaries, or an eligible lead applicant partnering with a for-profit firm or individual consultant.

EPA will not consider partnerships formed from within a single state, territorial, or tribal government as eligible.

III-E. Cost Sharing or Matching Assistance agreements for Exchange Network projects do not require applicants to share cost or match funds. Applicants may elect to offer voluntary cost shares in their project budgets. Please note that voluntary cost shares are binding as provided in ‘voluntary committed cost sharing’ at 2 CFR

200.1. Voluntary cost shares offered by applicants for competitive assistance agreements must be included in an applicant’s SF-424A Budget Information for Non-Construction Programs form (see Appendix E). Additionally, the distinction between Federal and Non-Federal funds in an applicant’s budget must be clearly expressed in both the SF-424A form and budget narrative attachment form.

III-F. Performance Partnership Grants (PPGs) Funds for assistance agreements awarded under this solicitation may be included in a PPG. Applicants should indicate in their application submission if they anticipate incorporating the proposed project, if selected for funding, into an already existing PPG or if they intend to create a new PPG that would include the project proposed under this solicitation. The PPG should be in place before the time of award or created concurrently with the award of the assistance agreement funds. The proposed project under this grant solicitation must have a project period that is within the PPG project period. It cannot be longer than the PPG project period. A PPG enables entities to combine funds from more than one environmental program assistance agreement into a single assistance agreement with a single budget.

Under this competition, state and interstate agency applications must first be selected under the competitive grant process described in this solicitation and, in accordance with 40 CFR 35.138, the work-plan commitments that would have been included in the work-plan must be included in the PPG work-plan. After the funds have been included in the PPG, the recipient does not need to account for these funds in accordance with the funds’ original program source as long as all the competitive work plan components are completed.

Similarly, tribal and intertribal consortia applications must first be selected under this competitive grant process in accordance with 40 CFR 35.535. If a proposed PPG work-plan differs significantly from the work-plan approved for funding under this competition, the Regional Administrator must consult the National Program Office (see 40 CFR 35.535). The purpose of this consultation requirement is to address the issue of ensuring that a project which is awarded funding under this competition is implemented as proposed once combined with other grant programs in a PPG.

For further information, see the final rules on Environmental Program Grants for state and interstate agencies at 40 CFR Part 35, Subpart A and tribes and intertribal consortia at 40 CFR Part 35, Subpart B. The rules are also available on the EPA’s website at: (state) and (tribal).

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-A/subject-group-ECFR2a6a0087862fd2c/section-200.1 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-40/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-35/subpart-B/subject-group-ECFR832711b28c33684/section-35.535 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-40/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-35/subpart-B/subject-group-ECFR832711b28c33684/section-35.535 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-40/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-35/subpart-B/subject-group-ECFR832711b28c33684/section-35.535 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-40/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-35/subpart-B/subject-group-ECFR832711b28c33684/section-35.535 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-40/part-35/subpart-a https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&SID=36b93a1b033dd72618e9867c2032b53b&rgn=div6&view=text&node=40:1.0.1.2.32.2&idno=40

Territories may apply for Consolidated Grants (CGs). Local governments are generally not eligible for PPGs. See Section II-A ‘General Information’ for additional information on both PPGs and CGs.

IV. Application and Submission…